W. LACROSSE | Women’s lax struggles against BC

Yale women’s lacrosse was shut out for much of Wednesday’s game versus No. 16 Boston College, and the Bulldogs were unable to stage a comeback.

No. 16 BC (4–0) continued its undefeated streak as it beat Yale (0–2) 18-4 at the Bulldog’s home opener. The Eagles shut out Yale 11–0 in the first half, controlling the game almost entirely, and allowed only four goals in the second half, while scoring seven more of their own.

She pointed to lopsided ball possession as the key to her team’s loss. BC won 10 of the 12 draws in the first half.

Caroline Crow ’12 agreed with Kidd, saying that Boston College’s dominance of the draws was key, but she added that Yale improved in the second frame, winning half of the draws.

“We really turned it around in the second half, I think we won the draw controls,” Crow said. “We didn’t give up.”

Kidd credited Kaitlyn Flatley ’11, who came off the bench to win two draws. Crow agreed that Flatley had played with a lot of heart but added that in the second half the entire team played with an intensity that had been missing in the first half.

“[In the] second half, we recognized that the only reason why the score was the way it was was that we simply didn’t have the ball,” Kidd said. “In the locker room we made the draw our No. 1 priority.”

Yale went on a 4-2 run at the beginning of the second half as Meghan Murray ’14 and Devon Rhodes ’13 scored a goal apiece. Crow scored twice.

Goalie Whitney Quackenbush ’12 agreed that the team’s offense came together in the second half, but noted that Boston College’s attack was a problem for them for most of the game.

Rhodes, one of the goal scorers, said that BC’s offense played unusually well during the game, making it hard for the Yale defense to contain the Eagles.

“Even though our defense played with a lot of heart, especially in the first half where they were active on defense for 30 straight minutes, the second half saw a much better effort from our team collectively,” Rhodes said.

Yale was shut out for the last 10 minutes as BC scored an additional five goals. But Crow said that the late slump was not a result of a lack of intensity.

Because there is no shot clock in lacrosse, one team can stall with the ball, passing it around on their end of the field for as long as they want. Yale’s midfielders had to put pressure on the Boston College defenders, which made them vulnerable to a counterattack, Crow said.

“They were stalling near the end of the game,” Crow said. “We had to take a lot of risks.”

Kidd said today was especially disappointing since Yale had matched up well against BC when they scrimmaged them in the fall.

“No one really walked off that field thinking that they played their absolute best,” she said.

Rhodes said that even though it was a rough loss, the second half had positives that they could take with them in their next game against Dartmouth.

The game against the Big Green is slated to start at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Reese Stadium.